The Odesa Breakthrough: How a Cork Guitarist Beat U2 and Riverdance to Ukraine and Performed with Soviet Jazz Icons
The Odesa Breakthrough: How a Cork Guitarist Beat U2 and Riverdance to Ukraine and Performed with Soviet Jazz Icons
The heavy iron door of the Tupolev jet swung open, the dry warm breeze of the Black Sea in juxtaposition to the aroma of the superfluous white acacia permeated the air.
When Irish guitarist and composer Mark O’Leary stepped down onto the tarmac at Odesa International Airport in September 2005, he wasn’t just arriving for another standard international booking. He was crossing an invisible line into unmapped cultural territory, establishing an absolute historical milestone as the very first Irish musician to perform a headline concert and festival appearance in Ukraine (0:00).
Stepping out of the terminal, O’Leary boarded a vintage local transit bus (0:44). As the engine sputtered to life, rattling along the uneven coastal roads toward the heart of central Odesa, he wasn’t just heading toward a soundcheck—he was driving straight into music history (0:44).
[Aeroflot Era Arrival] ───> [The Lone Border Table] ───> [Transit Bus to Central Odesa] ───> [History Made]
🕺 “Hey, He’s Fast Man!” — The Shadow of Riverdance
In 2005, Western European cultural footprints in the Black Sea region were incredibly scarce (1:12). YouTube had only just been founded months prior and had not yet transformed global media distribution; high-speed digital streaming had yet to penetrate the local consciousness (0:13).
Everywhere O’Leary wandered through the architectural marvels of the city, his presence sparked deep, friendly curiosity (0:55):
“Excuse me, where are you from?” the locals would ask (0:23).
“I’m from Ireland,” O’Leary would reply (0:23).
The response was instantaneous, joyful, and entirely universal (0:23). Immediately, the faces of the Odesa locals would light up with recognition (0:23). They would instantly begin to emulate the Gaelic Terpsichorean choreography of traditional Irish step dancing right there on the pavement (0:23).
“Ah! Riverdance!” they would exclaim with genuine admiration (0:23). Looking closely at the Irish guitarist, they would smile, nod to one another, and mutter: “Hey, he’s fast man...”
It was a brilliant testament to the global reach of Irish rhythm, yet ironically, the massive production of Riverdance itself would not actually mount an official performance on Ukrainian soil until several years later (5:30). O’Leary had beaten the commercial giants to the frontier entirely on his own creative steam (5:30).
Preliminary Chords: The Ukr.tele.kom Sessions
A few days before his milestone headline concert at the Odessa Philharmonic Hall, Mark O’Leary immersed himself in the city’s thriving underground scene for a completely unique collaboration. On the 14th, he took the stage alongside his friend Sergei Klein and a local avant-garde arts collective, with the performance billed under the distinct moniker of Mark O’Leary & Ukr.tele.kom. The collective had enthusiastically plastered posters and fliers all over Odessa, though they mistakenly announced the headliner as “Mark O’Leary from Dublin.” When Mark later mentioned the geographical mix-up to the festival organizers, they fired back in total, classic Niall Tóibín fashion: “And did you tell them you were from Cork?” “Oh, Yeah!” This raw, cross-cultural creative energy—and the unforgettable wit that accompanied it—was captured perfectly on the resulting album release, Managua (2005), serving as a captivating, high-spirited prelude to the grand orchestral scale of the upcoming Philharmonic Hall concert.
🏛️ The International Summit at the Odesa Philharmonic
The core of the historic milestone took place on Saturday, September 17, 2005, at 18:00 inside the breathtaking, neo-Renaissance splendor of the Odesa Philharmonic Hall (2:08). Billed under the Cyrillic moniker Марк О’Лірі, O’Leary took his place on stage as part of a high-stakes, international avant-garde summit group (1:35).
The lineup surrounding him represented an absolute powerhouse of post-Soviet musical genius (2:19):
Yuriy Kuznetsov (Ukraine): The most widely revered, legendary, and in-demand jazz pianist in the entire Soviet sphere (2:34). A towering musical force whose fierce improvisational command made him a national treasure (2:34).
Anatoly Vapirov (Bulgaria/Russia): A masterful, highly sought-after saxophonist whose brilliant, cutting tone was celebrated across the entire former Soviet Union (2:26).
Vladimir Tarasov (Lithuania): The visionary master percussionist and co-founder of the legendary Ganelin Trio (GTCh) (2:56).
The Ganelin Trio held an untouchable status as the single most important and pioneering ensemble in the history of Soviet new jazz (3:09). They were radical subversives who broke down totalitarian cultural barriers, earning the rare, historic distinction of performing inside both the Kremlin and for Ronald Reagan at the White House in Washington, D.C. (3:09).
By trading phrases on stage with Tarasov that evening, O’Leary completed a staggering creative double-crown: he is one of the exceptionally rare global artists to have performed and recorded with both core pillars of the Ganelin Group, having later shared concert stages and tracked a live album with the trio’s iconic leader, pianist Slava Ganelin (3:37).
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ODESA INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT 2005 │
└───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
│
┌───────────────────┬─────────────┴─────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ │ │ │
┌────────┴─────────┐┌────────┴─────────┐ ┌─────────┴────────┐┌─────────┴────────┐
│ MARK O'LEARY ││ YURIY KUZNETSOV │ │ VLADIMIR TARASOV ││ ANATOLY VAPIROV │
│ Guitar (Ireland)││ Piano (Ukraine) │ │ Drums (Lithuania)││Saxophone(Bulgaria)│
└──────────────────┘└──────────────────┘ └─────────┬────────┘└──────────────────┘
│
┌─────────┴────────┐
│ THE GANELIN TRIO │
│ (Soviet Icons) │
└──────────────────┘
🌊 “Leave Me to My Memories”
Beyond the roaring, ecstatic applause of the Philharmonic crowd, the true heart of the journey was forged in quiet moments of profound human connection (4:12).
During the daytime, O’Leary and local avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Sergey would wander through the historic streets, absorbing the rich sights and sounds of a peaceful, sun-drenched coastal city (0:33). They sat together on the massive, sweeping stone steps of the legendary Potemkin Stairs—immortalized in Sergei Eisenstein’s cinema masterpiece Battleship Potemkin—slowly eating warm bowls of traditional beet borscht while looking out over the bustling harbor (1:04).
One late afternoon, O’Leary found himself walking along the grand coastal promenade alongside Vladimir Tarasov (3:53). They strolled past the Odesa Yacht Club—the second oldest yacht club in the entire world, sitting in beautiful historical parity with the oldest, the Royal Cork Yacht Club back in O’Leary’s home county (3:45).
They conversed easily, matching strides for miles as the sun began to dip below the horizon of the Black Sea (3:53). They walked the entire length of the grand promenade (3:53). As they reached the final turn to retrace their steps, Tarasov stopped in his tracks (4:02). He looked out over the dark water, turned back toward the path, and looked at the young Irish guitarist (4:02).
With a quiet, cinematic weight that captured a lifetime of artistry, survival, and brilliant music, Tarasov spoke softly (4:12):
“Mark, Mark... leave me. Leave me to my memories.” (4:12)
It remains one of the most stunning, poetic distillations of an artistic life ever captured—a moment of quiet reflection as an elder statesman of the Soviet underground stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the first Irish pioneer to cross into his world (0:00).
A Lasting Legacy Ahead of the Curve
The impact of the international summit sent ripples across the nation’s culture, generating widespread acclaim and features in major press outlets from the coast of Odesa all the way up to the capital city of Kyiv (4:31).
To put the sheer timeline of this breakthrough into historical perspective:
2005: Mark O’Leary headlines the Odesa Philharmonic (2:08).
2008: Stadium icons U2 perform their very first major concert appearance in Ukraine (5:30).
Post-2005: The massive touring production of Riverdance finally schedules its debut dates in the territory (5:30).
Long before the corporate touring machines and arena acts mapped out their travel logistics for Eastern Europe, a lone Cork guitarist took a cold call, boarded an old Aeroflot-era aircraft, sat at a single-table border post, and laid down the very first musical bridge between Ireland and Ukraine (0:00). It remains a masterclass in looking far past the horizon, chasing the pure, uncompromising spirit of the global avant-garde.
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